U is for Up

Ellie: Charles Muntz, explorer. When I get big, I’m going where he’s going,
…
South America. It’s like America, but *south*.

It comes in at #113 on the IMDb Top 250, and won two Oscars – Best Original Score and Best Animated Feature. It was nominated for five though, including Best Picture (Pixar’s first nomination in that category) and only the second animated movie to be nominated for the big award (the first being Beauty and the Beast in 1991).

All in all, a great movie. The voice cast is superb (as expected from Pixar), the animation is flawless and the characterisation is second to none.

But for me, what absolutely sets this movie apart from the rest of Pixar’s output (and I say this as a *huge* Pixar fan) is the opening of the film. That first ten, eleven minutes when young Carl meets Ellie and we’re taken on a silent trip through their life is one of the finest love stories in film.

Bar none.

The rest of the movie is great, don’t get me wrong. Russell the Wilderness Explorer is brilliantly played. Old Carl is a grumpy old curmudgeon with a heart of gold. Muntz is suitably creepy and Dug the Dog (“Squirrel!”) cracks me up.